As a portable combustor, gas stoves and body warmers utilizing a petroleum fuel as a source of energies are currently widely used. The gas stoves are dangerous because of the open fire system and have a low heating efficiency because most of the thermal energies produced are emitted to the atmosphere. On the other hand, the body warmers are merely capable of warming a locality of the body of the user.
Accordingly, heating garments and heating mats have been suggested which incorporate an electric battery and an electric resistance element distributed inside the garment or mat. However, the currently available electric battery exhibits a low energy density for a unit weight thereof and is incapable of supplying heat to the heating garment and heating mat for a substantial length of time. If the heating garment or mat is desired to be heated for a substantial length of time with a sufficient amount of heat, the battery would become so bulky and so heavy that the battery can no longer be used for portable use.
The Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 4-347450 (corresponding to the U.S. Pat. No. 5,282,740) discloses a heating garment in which a petroleum fuel having an energy density far higher than that afforded by the electric battery is catalytically combusted to provide heat with which a fluid such as water is heated to a proper temperature and is then circulated inside the garment.
As a means for accomplishing heating inside the garment by the utilization of combustion heat, body warmers of a kind utilizing fuel such as alcohol or charcoal and disposable body warmers of a kind utilizing a chemical reaction between a ferrous material and an oxidized material are also currently available. Yet, a camp stove utilizing a cassette filled with butane is also known as a combustor utilizing fuel. The camp stove is generally referred to as a cordless appliance because no line cord is used and is generally used as a heat source for cooking.
In any event, the prior art portable combustors have a problem in that they are heavy and have a large volume. Of them, the heating garment comprising the combustor in which the combustor of a type utilizing a liquid medium such as water as a heat catalyst and this heat source is connected through a tubing with a medium to be heated has a problem in that the heating garment is heavy and lacks flexibility.
In addition, the prior art body warmers are merely capable of heating a locality and are incapable of heating over a large area inside the garment. The body warmer is inconvenient to use since when the fuel such as alcohol or charcoal is to be refilled the body warmer must be removed out of the garment. When it comes to the disposable body warmers, not only are they ineffective to be reused, but also they have the heat quantity that cannot be controlled during heating to a desired temperature.
The camp stoves are in the form of the combustor integrated together with a fuel tank and an operating console and cannot be used for heating inside the garment even though they are mounted inside the garment. In addition, because the operating console and the combustor are integrated together, not only is it impossible to control the combustion from outside of the garment, but also the heat quantity cannot be controlled while the user wears the garment.
Accordingly, the present invention is intended to provide a combustor which is light-weight and compact in size and conveniently portable, to make it possible to heat the garment over the entire area by the use of the combustor of the type referred to above, and to make it possible to adjust the supply of fuel and the amount of heat supplied to thereby create a comfortable temperature distribution inside the garment.